If Mary Loved Jesus . . .

I've been doing some thinking. I know, run and hide, right? The next few blogs might be a huge mess of thoughts with no coherence, and for that I apologize, but I think I need to get this out of me for my own benefit and to give you, gentle reader, some food for thought. Note: this blog will not be about faith/religion/Christianity except that in discussing Mary Magdalene and her relationship with Jesus of Nazareth (Jesus Christ, if your disposition so lends you to believe)-religion is inherent. Don't think I am spouting off on some religious topic that will offend you or reassure you. I am spouting off on love and that very well might offend you or reassure you. Now that our ground rules are established. . .

If Mary [Magdalene] loved Jesus, then how did that make her feel? The interest in Mary Magdalene is more massive than I realized. My Google search produced 1,760,000 sites in .21 seconds. Whereas I thought that the only people who really paid attention to her anymore were obscure ascetic monks out in the desert, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Dan Brown, there actually appears to be this magnificent interest in her. I told Caroline I was doing some research on her and the question came up, "Why?" "For me," I said. "Well, it's all conjecture, anyway," she stressed.

Fair. This is all conjecture, too. I used the word "if", didn't I? That said, the conjecture about Mary that I see on the internet has to do with her identity and what that meant to Jesus. Was she the same as Mary of Bethany, was she the same Mary that had seven demons cast out of her? Was she a prostitute? Was she the beloved disciple, apostle of the apostles? Did she marry Jesus? Did she and Jesus have babies? That's a lot of questions.

I have a lot of questions myself, but they all start out the same. If Mary loved Jesus . . . I will again make a distinction; the ramifications I seek to explore here are the ones that affected Mary, not those that would have affected Jesus. I mean, honestly, I'm in over my head as is, seeking to understand Jesus is so far beyond me that I feel heretical (or maybe just foolhardy) for even suggesting it.

When I was in class, I did a little outlining to try to figure out how to tackle what I think on the situation. Really, an outline. The last time I attempted to do anything of that sort was. . . never? But perhaps because I care about this personally, I want to sort things out before I put them here. So, with much ado, I bit adieu. Kind of a let down, no? But I think each bullet point on my outline is going to get its own individual post. I mean, it's a lot to digest, and nobody wants to sit and read a crazy girl's twelve page tract on Mary Magdalene all at once (if they even want to read it at all). See you tomorrow!